Bears’ Upset Bid of Williamson Falls Short

MEDIA, PA – The #16 ranked St. Joseph's College men's basketball team had the #1 ranked team in the USCAA, Williamson Trade School, on the ropes, but couldn't pull off the upset on Thursday night, falling 74-68 on the road at the Restall Sports Center.

Despite the discrepancy in the rankings, the two squads have been evenly matched, with St. Joseph's entering the game holding a 5-4 edge in the all-time series, and three of the last five contests decided by four points or fewer, including the Eastern Athletic Conference Championship, which the Bears won in 2007. This meeting would be no different.

The Bears utilized the outside attack connecting on five triples in the opening half to build an early lead. A three-pointer by Thomas Karasinski (Staten Island, NY/New Dorp) with 5:24 to play in the opening half gave the Bears an 11 point advantage, their largest of the game and the Bears went into the intermission up 32-27.

That lead quickly evaporated in the second half as Williamson took the lead back with back-to-back three pointers and both teams remained in a dogfight for the remainder of the half which saw six ties and seven lead changes.

St. Joseph's managed pull away slightly building a six point lead on two occasions, but Williamson took the lead back on an 8-0 run and the Bears wouldn't lead again. The squads remained tied at 59-59 with 4:06 to play, but St. Joseph's shot 3-for-9 over the final minutes while Williamson went 3-for-3 from the field and shot 8-for-10 from the charity stripe for the victory.

Jan Rogowski (Woodside, NY/St. John's Prep) led four Bears in double-figures scoring 18 points, shooting 4-for-8 from behind the arc and pulling down seven rebounds. The Bears received 28 points from their bench with Johnny Mendez (Astoria, NY/St. John's Prep) contributing 12 points and Jon Matzelle (Maspeth, NY/St. Francis Prep) chipping in 10. David Ortiz (Brooklyn, NY/Christ the King) scored 10 points, grabbed a team-high eight boards and dished out five assists.

Williamson was led by Zach Tansey who recorded a 19 point, 14 rebound double-double, both game highs. Reggie Richardson had 17 points and Julian Stewart had 15 points.

St. Joseph's (6-17, 4-2 HVMAC) returns to the hardwood for their final home game of the season on Saturday, February 12 hosting Lancaster Bible College in the marquee game of a doubleheader at Brooklyn Technical High School. The Lady Bears start off the twinbill at 5 pm with the Bears to follow at 7:30 p.m. The Bears, the dance team and step teams will also celebrate Senior Night with festivities following the game honoring the careers of Matzelle, Donald Coleman (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth), Tiffany Trujillo and Andriana Dillard.